Fort Lauderdale Temple

When we took Nathan and his friends to the Miami Zoo we drove past the new LDS temple.  It is about an hour and fifteen minutes from our house in Naples.  The temple is not scheduled to be complete for at least a year, maybe eighteen months.  This will be the closest we have lived to a temple since we lived in Michigan.

We took a few pictures of the temple from the car...

Zoo Party

We took Nathan to the Miami Zoo for his birthday.  He was able to take two of his friends with us.  It was quite a day!  We left Naples at 8:00 a.m. and it took a little less than two hours to get there.  The Miami Zoo is amazing and the thing I miss the most about Miami (I also miss my friends).  We spent ALL DAY there.  Seriously, we were there from 10:00 - 4:30 p.m.  After the Zoo we went to Bahama Breeze.  It was our first time at that restaurant, we decided to go there because it is our nephew Zachary's favorite restaurant.  

 Logan Hamisch, Audrey, Elysse, Nathan and Austin Hamisch

 The pot of gold was sort of random but the boys enjoyed it!

 Audrey thought getting totally soaked would help her cool off...

 We took plenty of water breaks!

 Kids were able to touch a stingray.  

 Lemon eating contest.

Just wanted to be in a photo.  

Make New Friend But Keep the Old

Remember that song from when you were younger?  I have always wondered which set of friends were silver and which were gold.  I guess it doesn't matter.  Perhaps that is the point, both are precious.

Good thing I kept one old friend - Megan (from Venice) because she led to a new friend - Erin (here in Naples).  It just so happens that they are sisters and now I have them both!  I have already made some great friends here in Naples.

It is such a blessing to have friends.  What I have also come to discover is your children making friends brings the same joy.  Yesterday I received a text message from Mandi, a new friend from here.  She has four children - Austin 8, Logan 6, Madelyn 4, Oliver 1.  Nathan is so happy to have friends.  He loves both Austin and Logan. He can't get over just how much they have in common.  The text message said, "Austin just told me that Sunday and Tuesday are his favorite days of the week.  I asked him why.  He said because I get to see Nathan!  He sure loves him!  I am so glad they are such great friends...and the best part of all is I get a great friend out of it too!  Thanks for being such a great friend!"

I have probably posted my theory on friends before but I think I have one of life's mysteries figured out so I will share again - the greatest friends are those that are as excited to see you as you are them and you openly tell them that.  This past week Erin said to me, "you are the closest thing I have had to a best friend since I was a kid."  See how that works?  We like each other, we like spending time together and then we tell one another.  Oh, and the other secret - if you haven't seen one another in a long time and you are able to pick up right where you left off then it is confirmed you have a true gem of a friend.

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I couldn't think of what to title the post.  So I will skip it.

I shouldn't be sad that no one has looked at the blog.  I have been absent for awhile.

I feel like going out on a date.  Yup, it is Thursday at 5:07 in the afternoon but I am done for the day.  If anyone in my home sheds a single tear for the rest of the day I might physically hurt them  won't like it very much!

Would it be crazy to hire a babysitter so I can go out by myself?

All Hail Pinterest

Okay, so I fought it for a long time.  My friend, Christi, tried to get me hooked on Pinterest back when I was living in Asheville.  I am not one for social networking and spending more time on the internet than I need.  After we realized what our new life situation would be = in Naples + Ryan working many hours a day, I decided it was time that I find a "hobby" or something to occupy the couple of extra hours per day that I now have.

I am not a crazy Pinterester as I don't spend wild amounts of time pinning things that I will never have time or actual desire to do.  It is a great place to go for ideas and I have enjoyed it.  Here are some things I have pinned and tried.

 When we moved in we sort of added all of these dark spots to the carpet from grease, dirt and moving things up the stairs.  I found a cleaning secret on Pinterest - mix one part ammonia to one part water, spray onto dirty carpet, cover with white towel, iron over top of towel, stain pulls out.  Totally worked, Ryan was impressed.  Sorry I don't have an after picture here...

 Father's Day gift idea for Ryan.  We had a strict $20 budget.  We bought (and returned) the letters from JoAnn's, bought frame from Wal-Mart and printed pictures at Sam's Club and came in under budget!  

These are the kids new favorite cookies.  So simple - strawberry cake mix, 1 egg, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup oil, roll into balls, place on cookie sheet 350 for 11 minutes.  Seriously so easy, so sweet, so good, so gone...  Also experimented with Devil's Food Cake they turned out but I had to up the water and oil to 1/3 cup. 

There are other food items I tried as well but no pictures to back them up.  I have done some puzzles for Elysse's church bag.  It is fun getting ideas and trying new things out.  Thanks Christi!

Hoops

Nathan has had a difficult time this year at school feeling like he fits in.  He wants to but doesn't always know how.  So we started asking him what the other kids do at recess.  He said most of the boys shoot hoops.  We encouraged him to try.  He came home from school one day completely ecstatic.  He couldn't wait to see the pride on my face when he told me he made 19 hoops at school that day.    

 I went out and bought a basketball.

The people we are renting from left the basketball hoop behind as they said it is broken.

Maybe it is broken but works great for us!

I love that he is not afraid to try something new.  He doesn't have perfect form but he is learning.

Apology

Last night was not a good night.  The kids were fighting.  It started as wrestling a bit and then it exploded into something different.  Kids were sent to their rooms and a grouchy night was had by all.

I went into Nathan's room last night to put some things away and we talked for a few minutes. Then Nathan said, "I am sorry I had to call you stupid two times today."

Expressive Art?

95 Driftstone Circle

It is official our home now belongs to a new family.  We officially closed today.  All documents are recorded and all funds have been transferred.

I know I should be grateful we were able to sell our home in a down real estate market - especially how quickly we were able to sell it, despite the fact that we lost a ton of money in the sale.  The fact remains, that was my house.  We built memories there.  We expected to stay.  That was our forever house.

Normally I would post pictures of the house with this entry.  However, I can't stand to look at the pictures.  This past Sunday, while in church, Ryan was flipping through pictures on his phone.  He stopped on a picture of Audrey's fourth birthday - she sat in front of a fun cake decorated in light blue and green frosting (favorite colors) adorned with chocolate animals - in my dining room.  It hit me, just like that - it doesn't belong to me anymore, I burst into tears.  I tried to stop.  I really tried to stop but couldn't - so there I sat in church, balling my eyes out because I saw a picture of a family memory recorded in our home - that no longer belongs to us.

I am so thankful to be in Florida.  I love it here.  We are making friends and we will look into buying a house in the next year.  I just need to mourn.

Perhaps this will seem completely ludicrous to some, it is only a house.  But to me it wasn't - we chose that house because we expected to be in it forever.  As a mom that stays at home, that home became, in large part, my identity.

She is 2!

 Here is the birthday girl.  

 Looking at Ryan singing "Happy Birthday" look how she adores him.

 Now that is cake!

Elysse will always share her birthday with two other important events for our family.  

(1) Zachary's birthday 10 years earlier and (2) Audrey's last hospitalized chemo.  

This is a scary birthday for me.  Audrey was diagnosed with a rhabdoid tumor only one month after her second birthday.  I know, she is a different girl - but for me, the feelings are still there.